Air pollution is a growing problem in most cities (big and small). The "Daily Dose" aims to disseminate the best available information on air pollution and engage in discussions to better understand the process of air quality management. For more details on the program, please visit http://www.urbanemissions.info

Friday, November 15, 2013

200,000 Electric Cars on Beijing's Roads

To help clean up the city's notorious air pollution, Beijing plans to
have 200,000 electric cars on the roads by 2017, of which 150,000 will
be privately owned, said Yan Yaoshuang, director of the Beijing
Committee on Science and Technology.

In an interview with local television, Yan revealed that the city's
plan for new energy vehicles, scheduled for release by the end of the
year, will put 30,000-40,000 new electric cars in public use for
transportation, environmental protection, hygiene and logistics. The
plan requires newly built communities to install 10%-15% of their
parking spaces with charging posts for electric cars. For older
communities, charging posts can be installed in separate locations.

Public charging posts will be set up every five kilometers on roads in downtown Beijing by 2017, Yan said.

"I will try my best to bring more electric cars to the road, a rather
difficult task in view of the city's traffic jams," said Yan. Exemption
of new electric cars from existing restrictions on auto use in the city
is still under discussion, with the final results expected to be out by
the end of the year.
According to the country's Ministry of Environmental Protection, of
the 74 cities monitored by the ministry in 2013, the 10 cities with the
worst air pollution are Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and their surrounding
areas. The Beijing city government recently announced plans to invest
200-300 billion yuan (US$32-$65 billion) in combating the problem over a
period of five years.

In principle, electric cars can be exempt from restrictions related
to poor smog conditions. Currently the city has create the red-level
grading mark for air pollution levels, which indicates heavy smog
conditions for at least three consecutive days. Following a 12-hour
notice, at this point cars would be placed on a daily rotation for road
use.

"According to our plan, electric cars will be given a special quota
for auto licenses, separate from gasoline vehicles whose licenses are
subject to an annual quota distributed according to lot drawing," said
Yan.

1 comment:

This article is very interesting and touches very important issues. I believe that an electric vehicle to really respect the environment should get the electric power that is fed from non-polluting sources such as from renewable energy sources (wind and solar). Even the proper recycling of lithium batteries, which are used in the new models is an issue not to be ignored, in order to optimally preserve the environment.